Talking
by RatherNotBeSaid
Summary: Something I wrote while avoiding studying for exams.


As she watched Ty Lee drape herself over the chair and fling her head backwards Azula became confused. The acrobat was supposed to be here to visit her, ask of her well-being, how she was fairing in the prison (she called it a recovery centre but Azula knew better) and wish for a recovery that she didn't believe was happening despite her constant insistence that she did. Not one believed that she would get better, she had been pushed completely off the edge after her defeat. But that was besides the point. Ty Lee was here to babbler on and talk to her not lounge herself in some chair and sunbathe.

After a few moments of her staring and no movement from Ty Lee, Azula crept further towards the bars which separated the two of them. She had been termed stable four months ago and been allowed to accept visitors. They allowed her to go to the outside visiting chambers but took precautionary measures. They kept her arms bound in front of her where the visitor, and guards, could see with chi blocking cuffs and placed cell bars to separate her from her visitor. They didn't want her getting too close. She didn't blame them at all. In fact she thought it was pretty clever on their part. There had been times when she had been ready to kill some of her visitors during her early months. Especially when Zuko had come to visit, wearing the crown that rightfully belonged to her.

She shook her hair and brought her hands up the bars forcefully. It was awkward and slightly painful in her cuffs but she ignored it angered by her thoughts of Zuko.

"What are you doing?" she demanded forcefully in her anger before realising that she had fallen into a trap. Ty Lee's visits consisted her talking while she stayed silent and impassive. Now Ty Lee wanted that to change. And ignoring her was a sure-fire way to get her to talk. Azula scowled, Ty Lee knew that she hated to be ignored.

There was another bout of silence. Ty Lee seemed to be sleeping, her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving a muscle, Azula would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Choosing to be stubborn Azula stood holding the bars waiting for some type of movement from her determined not to move a muscle until Ty Lee answered her.

"Sunbathing." Ty Lee answered not opening her eyes, looking thoroughly unconcerned about the world. They fell into a silence and Azula grew impatient. She was not used to this silence, not with Ty Lee.

"Why?" she asked with the same forcefulness and with a sigh Ty Lee opened her eyes.

"I've been inside so much now a days, planning meetings with the Royal Court and advising Zuko on peace treaties." There goes Zuko again. She wrapped her hands tighter around the bars and knew it would be burning red if she had not been wearing the cuffs. "I barely see the outside unless it's through a window. I miss travelling with you."

Azula frowned and lessened her hold on the bars. She was lying. She had to be. Everyone was happy now that she was out of the way. People disliked her and enjoyed seeing her behind bars. Zuko could be Fire Lord, something twisted inside of her, the Avatar could reign and miscreants could run wild. Ty Lee could return to the circus, nothing was keeping her in the palace, and Mai could spend all of her time with...him. No one missed her. No one.

"Mai does too." Ty Lee added. "Though I suppose it's more of the friendship and less of the travelling that we miss. That is if there was even a friendship. I never know with you."

Then she was done talking. Her eyes were closed, her head turned away and Azula wondered if she had gone to sleep again. And she stared, not knowing what to say. They had been friends hadn't they? Did she consider Ty Lee and Mai friends?

After think on it she realised that she couldn't answer herself. She was too confused with her feelings, her thoughts, herself. She didn't even know herself.

"How is Mai?" she asked finally, releasing her grip on the bars. It was a way of expressing her emotions and she needed to control them.

An eye peaked open before closing.

"She's okay. Like I said she misses you but she and Zuko have been spending a lot of time together." At Zuko's name she resisted the urge to return her grip on the bars. Will she forever be filled with this hatred for him? "General Iroh says we'll be hearing wedding bells soon."

"Uncle?" Azula hadn't heard word of Iroh since her imprisonment.

"Yeah. After he retook Ba Sing Se along with members of the White Lotus he decided to stay there permanently. He now owns a tea shop. It's extremely popular. He offered me a job there when I'm finished with the palace. Between there and the circus I'll have a place in the sun. Then I won't have to sunbathe here."

Azula felt a stab in her heart. Did that mean she was going to stop her visits? With a shock she realised that she would miss them, then she wondered when she started enjoying them enough to miss them.

"Then we can talk more. Did I tell you how Iza stole my shirt the other day? She thinks she's so important now that she had a boyfriend."

As Ty Lee babbled on about her family and normal life Azula thought about how odd the situation was. A sunbathing girl in pink and a broken criminal behind bars conversing like friends at home.


End file.
